Tag Archives: easy

I should have added more stitches in the beginning – maybe another 6 either side – so it fits around the wider part of the pot.

That said, it did stretch when I blocked it. If I make this again I might add a few increases (and then decreases) like darts on a skirt!

For those interested in the actual numbers, I started with 43 chains across the bottom, which became 21 chains on the side pieces, then up to 53 chains by the time I added extras across the spout and handle. To decrease around the pot rim – I did 8 hdc, 2toghdc starting from centre of handle.

Or maybe not! I made this cowl at the beginning of the year for a friend who had moved to Canada, but have since heard stories from Canadians about the cold and the snow that make me think that this might be better suited for summer!

I must say though that I felt a little silly making it at the time, as it was the usual hot, humid, sticky, bright and sunny Brisbane summer.

My friend Jayne has gone on maternity leave and left me in charge of her print business – brave lady! It’s such an adjustment going back to work, even if I am working from home.

So I’ve spent a lot of time over the past two weeks learning the business, which doesn’t leave much time at all for crafting or reading (or staring blankly at the wall either). These booties however, I made last night watching 3 hours of Doctor Who I’d recorded. They don’t actually take that long, but it’s been so long since I’ve crocheted a flat piece that I kept forgetting to add the extra chains at the end of each row. So there was a bit of unravelling going on.

The pattern is really easy and is finished before you know it. Which is really handy when you’re off to visit in the hospital the very next day!

Currently the walls in our family room are forest green with rust red trim, which I only recently figured out was meant to look like wood. One day, when we’ve put the new kitchen in we will paint the open plan area that encompasses the kitchen, dining and family area – hopefully in a nice pale grey.

In a bid to influence my husband on this upcoming paint decision, I have started hooking a ripple rug for the couch. I’ve decided on no set pattern of colours, but a mix of cream, pale grey, charcoal and black (and any more greys that I can find in the next few weeks), in random order. I’m also adding a few red ripples in for contrast – it sounds odd but I think it will work.

13 ripples down, 67 to go! I estimate I need about 80 ripples, based on Attic24’s ripple rug. I’ll see how I go.

The EZ flaps hat has indeed become the birthday present of choice. Below is a quick squiz at some more I’ve made.

2 year old

Used 8 ply wool and 5.0mm hook. No optional increase, but added 2 extra rows of A before the stripes (as the beanie I made for my 6mth old is a smidge short).

1 year old

8 ply wool and the 5.0mm hook again, with an optional increase. I actually didn’t read the pattern properly and forgot the 5th row, but didn’t realise until after I’d done the stripes. I lost the will to unravel it and fix it, so I just added an extra row of purple after the stripes.

All the braids have been the same length – 3.5 m per braid, and when looped through the earflap there are 4 strands of each colour.

Round 2 of baby fever has started, with little Nicolas being the first of the second borns. A few hours ago I came across the simple crossover bootie pattern, freshly posted on ravelry. So freshly posted, that the author hadn’t actually linked to the pattern yet, but it is very simple and I figured it out from the photos.

Seems I got it mostly right, but actually uses the double crochet stitch instead of the treble. I prefer the treble because it’s faster 😉 Lazy, I know!

I did three rows of treble, then a row of double in grey. The sole of the bootie is also in grey. I think I might make a larger version for my 7mth old, see if it works – as in, see if it stays on his foot.

Update: Here’s a quick how-to for sewing the two pieces together. Please excuse my wonky arrows – it’s the first time I’ve used the drawing feature in Google docs. So start in the corner, sew together the 1s, then sew together the 2s going around 3 sides of the sole even though it’s only one side of the side piece, then sew the 3s together – this will be over the top of the already sewn 1s, so you end up with three layers sewn together at the front. The dark blue stripe down the left of the side piece is the grey stripe on my actual bootie.

For those still having trouble with stitching together the booties, try this explanation on Purl Bee – it’s for a felt shoe, but has very clear step-by-step photo instructions.

I am obsessed with making hats for my little boy – I now have a beanie, a flaps hat, and a newsboy hat (still in progress). My poor 5th avenue infinity scarf has been pretty much left for dead – maybe it will be finished for next winter if it’s lucky. I should just suck it up really, and unravel it and use the wool for something else, as I think that it probably won’t ever get finished.

Since I have been trying not to buy more wool without a purpose in mind (this was the plan from way back living in a 1 bedroom flat, knowing that we were moving interstate soon), so now that I have a purpose (as well as a whole room to store just my craft stuff) I set off for Lincraft which was easier said than done.

I have been spoilt. I realise this now, living in the ‘burbs of Brisbane, that all my favourite shops are NOT just down the road. Where I was in Prahran, in Melbourne, I had Chapel St only a 15 min walk away, and I drove past Chadstone shopping centre every day to and from work. Also on this drive, I would pass Spotlight and Lincraft (Lincraft who sneakily moved into the old Spotlight premises at Malvern), and finishing work at 4.30pm each day meant that I could stop by after work and PLAY!

Anyway, long story short, Lincraft is either in the CBD or at Sunnybank Hills, which also features an old Pick n Pay Hypermarket – a combined Coles and Kmart. Sunnybank Hills is surprisingly close though, so off I went and bought wool.

This hat is simple, and having translated the american crochet terms it doesn’t take long at all to work up. It’s the standard pattern for increasing for a spherical object, but the amazing this is that the author has taken the time to write up a pattern for every head size imaginable! To make things easier on myself, I just deleted all the numbers not relevant to my size.

For this beanie I didn’t add the optional increase row, but did do the extra row before the stripes. I had originally done the extra increases but discovered it made the hat just too big.

Each of the strands of wool for the braids are approximately the length of my forearm – an exact measurement, I know!

And voila, done! The ease of this hat has got me thinking that this might be the birthday present of choice for all my friends’ little kids this year!